Coming up this evening at 9 p.m., "Piers Morgan Tonight" welcomes former Congressman Patrick Kennedy for a candid discussion on life as a Kennedy, and his goal of destigmatizing psychiatric disorders.

Having openly struggled with addiction, as well as depression and bipolar disorder, Kennedy has used his public persona to become an advocate for those suffering from various mental illnesses:

"I spoke openly about it, because I knew that that's what my constituents wanted, and that's what they were anxious to hear. And in fact, many of them started talking to me about their own sets of challenges, that they felt ashamed about," he tells Piers Morgan. "Even though I grew up in a very different way from many of my constituents, they related to my experience, of fighting not only a mental illness, but the stigma that comes with that mental illness."

On the heels of Friday's car accident involving Kerry Kennedy – the most-recent headline-grabbing incident featuring America's most-famous family – the 44-year-old insists that neurological challenges don't discriminate, and aren't limited to those with a recognizable last name: FULL POST